Tags: Astronomy

Artist's impression: A violent collision between two massive bodies orbiting the planet Pummelo. Credit: NASA, ESA, STScI, Ralf Crawford (STScI)

What Looked Like a Planet Was Actually a Cosmic Crash

For years, “Pumlehut b” served as one of the most famous examples of a directly observed extrasolar planet. Now it has been discovered that the observed body was not a “mature” planet and that the observed light is the result of collisions in the cloud.